A database table may be arranged such that it includes multiple columns that store different types of content. Requests to the database table may then be received to read information from and/or write information into those columns. For example, different columns might store text information, numerical values, and/or other types of data. In some cases, portions of a database table will store “Large Object” (LOB) data content, such as in unlimited character string content (CLOB) and/or unlimited binary string content (BLOB) columns.
To efficiently access such LOB content, requests associated with “locators” and/or “streaming” may be provided in connection with a database server. A locator may be associated with a pointer to table column content and can accelerate access operations. However, these types of locators may require a considerable consumption of resources by the database server. In addition, streaming (e.g., as provided in JAVA documentation) may let data be accessed (including reading and writing) in a piecewise and/or sequential fashion.
An Open Structured Query Language (OpenSQL) environment may be associated with a set of Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) statements that perform operations on a central database, and the results of the operations (and any error messages) may be independent of the particular database system being used. In this way, OpenSQL may provide a uniform syntax and semantics that can be used in connection with multiple database implementations and/or vendors. Note, however, that OpenSQL does not provide a common syntax definition for locators and/or streaming requests.
Approaches that may improve access to LOB content in database tables could, therefore, be desirable. Moreover, it may advantageous to provide such access in an efficient and convenient manner—even when a number of different database server implementations can be associated with a system.